Get a taste of Egypt’s catering scene

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THE WEEK IN REVIEW

IMF pays us a visit + state-run banks impose more credit cards restrictions

Good morning, friends. We hope you’re having a relaxing long weekend — enjoy it to the fullest: it’s the last one we’ll get until Eid Al Fitr in April.

To make the most of it in this chilly weather, we recommend a heartwarming gathering over a feast with family and friends. In today’s Enterprise Guide we bring to you a thoughtful list of catering services that offer unique dining experiences suitable for mid-sized events and extra-special occasions.

Enterprise Weekend comes out on the first day of the weekend at 9:00am CLT.

We'll be back from the long weekend on Sunday with big news as we launch EnterpriseAM KSA. Our newest addition to the Enterprise suite is written for decision makers in Saudi Arabia as well as executives, investors, and others doing business or deploying capital there. It will be published at 7am KSA, Sunday through Thursday. You can also check our newly launched EnterpriseAM UAE edition here.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

ECONOMY-

#1- Egypt held another round of talks with the IMF: Representatives from the IMF, led by the mission chief for Egypt Ivanna Hollar, made a visit to discuss the two long-stalled reviews of Egypt’s loan program. The visit came on the heels of IMF Mideast and Central Asia head Jihad Azour’s trip to Cairo, where he met with Egyptian authorities and “regional stakeholders”. No details from the talks have been given yet.

#2- Moody’s downgrades Egypt’s credit outlook: Moody’s has downgraded Egypt’s credit outlook to negative from stable, affirming its Caa1 rating — seven rungs into junk territory — the credit rating agency. The agency cites concerns that IMF support may be insufficient to ward off macroeconomic challenges and currency instability in the country.

BANKING-

#1- Standard Chartered receives license to set up shop in Egypt: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has approved British multinational lender Standard Chartered’s request for a license to set up a branch in the country, according to a decision published in the Official Gazette on Monday. The lender, which received its full banking license from the CBE in November 2022, was operating in the country as a representative office — a limited form of business establishment. That makes 37 banks registered (pdf) with the CBE.

#2- State-run banks impose new FX transaction restrictions: The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr have lowered credit card limits on FX transactions executed at home and abroad. NBE trimmed the monthly limit on FX purchases made while cardholders are abroad to the equivalent of EGP 7k-85k. It also lowered the monthly ceiling on cash withdrawals abroad to the equivalent of EGP 1.5k-4.5k. Local FX transactions have been reduced to the equivalent of USD 50-250 depending on the card type, down from a standard USD 250 across the board.Banque Misr changed its monthly ceiling on the amount credit card holders are able to withdraw abroad to the equivalent of EGP 3k-6k (depending on the card type) and cut the monthly cap on FX purchases made abroad to the equivalent of EGP 3k-90k, down from USD 100-4k.

DIPLOMACY-

#1- Egypt “will not allow any threat to Somalia,” President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said during a joint presser with his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (watch, runtime: 12:20) on Sunday. The two met to discuss Ethiopia saying it would recognise an independent Somaliland — Somalia’s breakaway region — in exchange for access to one of its seaports. “Do not try Egypt, or try to threaten its brothers, especially if they ask it to intervene,” El Sisi added — marking Egypt’s strongest stance on the issue. “Trying to seize a piece of land to control it is something no one will agree to,” he continued.

#2- Egypt and Saudi Arabia are leading a group of five Arab countries pushing a plan for peace and the post-war rebuilding of Gaza, the Wall Street Journal wrote in a deeply reported piece that relies heavily on unnamed Saudi and Egyptian officials. The plan calls for ending the war in Gaza and recognizing Palestine as an independent nation — and Saudi Arabia will recognize Israel. US diplomats are playing middleman to pitch the Israelis on the idea, which would also see Gulf countries and Egypt taking the lead in rebuilding and securing Gaza when Israel withdraws.

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

#1- DeSantis throws in the towel, backs up Trump: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ended his presidential bid Sunday, saying “it’s clear a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance.” DeSantis had emerged as Trump’s top challenger, but struggled to keep up in the primary elections as voters showed continued loyalty to the former president.

#2- Shipping giants divert more Red Sea routes and seek overland alternatives: Danish shipping giant Maersk has reshuffled routes on its ME2 service that connects the western Mediterranean to the Gulf and India, diverting them via the Cape of Good Hope, while Hapag Lloyd said it would introduce land corridors through Saudi Arabia to minimize the impact of disruptions to client businesses, as the German carrier continues to reroute shipments via the Cape of Good Hope until further notice.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- A cloudy day in Cairo lies ahead with a high of 18°C and a low of 12°C at night along with some potential drizzles. Expect more sun in the capital city for the rest of the long weekend, with highs of 20-21 during the day and chilly 12°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Attention, bookworms: The Cairo International Book Fair opens its doors to thegeneral public starting today from 10am to 9pm. The fair will be held at the Egypt International Exhibitions Center and run every day from 10am to 8pm — except for Thursdays and Fridays, when doors will close at 9pm — until Tuesday, 6 February.

Let these renown catering companies curate the menu for your next special occasion

Try out a specialty catering service for your next intimate dinner or event: There are plenty of catering options available in Cairo, but very few can offer the attention to detail and creative consideration that can come from a small, chef-driven enterprise. After consulting with fellow foodies across the city, we’ve found a handful of small, bespoke services that offer unique dining experiences suitable for mid-sized events and those extra-special occasions.

Here are some of our favorite specialty catering outfits in Cairo.

#1- Avec Karim: Led by Ecole Ducasse-certified Chef Karim Abdelrahman, Avec Karim offers unconventional private dining experiences that elevate nostalgic flavors. They started by offering small-scale private dinners during Covid-19 before spreading like wildfire. They now offer personalized dining experiences for a variety of special occasions, weddings, and corporate events. Using personal preference as inspiration Avec Karim will craft specialized menus based on interviews with clients that incorporate personal decor, home accents, and quirky eating habits. For smaller events, they’ll typically prepare dishes in your home or set up a mobile kitchen in areas where facilities are limited. For bookings email info@aveckarim.com.

THE PRICE TAG- Avec Karim declined to provide prices but said that economic factors, location, size, and how elaborate the preparations are will factor in.

#2-The Sage Experience: Founded in the summer of 2020, the Sage Experience offers culinary experiences for private dinners, corporate events, product launches, and weddings — with a minimum of 15 people per event. They’ve handled events for up to 2.5k people as well as small private dinners. Their signature model menu (geared towards events with 15-30 people) includes dishes like entree truffle pasta and beef tartare. Picanha skewers, beef sirloin, and signature pasta are crowd favorites. Shoot them a DM on Instagram for reservations.

THE PRICE TAG- EGP 750 - EGP 1.4k per person.

#3- Cookery Co.: This establishment kicked off in 2016 as a small pop-up dinner outfit serving private groups in one of the co-founders’ gardens in Sahel. A few years later they were at the helm of a major operation serving events with up to 1k diners at corporate events, private gatherings, and weddings. They’re great for finger food, seated dinners, and buffet-style menus for larger events. For bookings call or send them a message over WhatsApp at 01102106568 or 01144200044.

THE PRICE TAG- About EGP 1k per person.

#4- Meat Party: This is for the casual barbeque enthusiast looking for high-quality meat inspired by Southern American cuisine. The operation started as a passion project of founder Nadim Samy, who pursued his personal interest in briskets about a year and a half ago. Meat Party has since grown to handle private events and even weddings. Ideal for casual dining experiences at home for groups of about 30-40 people, they offer burgers, steak, and lobster, and can even handle non-food event prep like sourcing picnic tables, bar services, and music. For reservations send them a DM on Instagram.

THE PRICE TAG- EGP 800-1.25k per person.

#5- Les Six Habitats: Led byICA-educated Private chef Fatma Abou Hindia, Les Six Habitats specializes in smaller intimate events with a strong eye for curation. Starting in 2019, Chef Fatma collaboratively curates menus and develops themes to match the event of your choosing — everything from floral arrangements to tablescapes and entertainment is within her purview. For bookings send a DM over on their Instagram.

THE PRICE TAG- EGP 1k-1.2k per person.

#6- Dine with Deenah: Le Cordon Bleu-educated Chef Dina Hosny can guarantee you passion, attention to detail, and locally sourced ingredients for a special night with some loved ones. Dine with Deenah offers curatorial and culinary services for seated dinners for up to 20-person groups. Her menus are crafted based on questionnaires that uncover more about your food preferences, but there are still some tried and true staples like fresh pasta, lamb freekeh tostadas, and deboned lamb shoulder. Deenah will freshly prepare the food from your home alongside a small team that will also cover seating, plates, and printed menus. For bookings email dinewithdeenah@gmail.com.

THE PRICE TAG- EGP 2k per person for a five-course menu, but prices vary.

Jason Statham is the one man SWAT team (again) in The Beekeeper + Yaba offers Egyptian favorites but with a higher price tag

? AT THE MOVIES-

The Beekeeper is another Jason Statham action movie, but it’s not just another Jason Statham action movie (watch trailer, runtime: 2:52). If Adam Clay, who lives out in the country raising bees and selling their honey was played by anyone other than Jason Statham, we might have believed that he was just an ordinary beekeeper.

But, surprise, he’s not. His best friend and neighbor, Eloise, responds to a phishing scam and loses her life savings alongside all the money raised for a nonprofit organization she founded. With nowhere to turn and no help from the authorities, she takes her life. So Clay switches out his beekeeping protective clothing for commando gear and gets to work.

The high of watching bad guys get their dues for preying on the vulnerable for almost two hours is marred by a cop-out at the end. The movie discusses themes of systematic corruption and questions whether humans are innately good, but suddenly chickens out at the last minute, assuring the audience that these exploitative systems aren’t actually bad, they just have a few bad apples. It’s disappointing that a film that promised to ‘burn it all down’ walks its premise back — but where would we be if we couldn’t enjoy Hollywood movies because of their moral failings?

Statham’s performances have only gotten stronger as he grows more comfortable in his role as the stoic, highly skilled, principled one-man SWAT team. The rest of the cast is convincing too, even Josh Hutcherson, the former Hunger Games heartthrob currently experiencing a revival. Seeing Hutcherson play Derek Danfort, a sleazy, coked-out trust fund antagonist is almost oxymoronic. And it works.

WHERE TO WATCH- At the time of writing, the Statham film has earned more than USD 75 mn at the global box office, making it 2024’s highest-gr ossing movie so far. Jump on the hype train by watching The Beekeeper at VOX Cinemas at City Center Almaza and Mall of Egypt, Citystars Cinemas, Cairo Festival City, and Cima Arkan.

? FROM THE BOOKSTORE-

How Machine Learning Will Shape the Next Decade is a comprehensive overview of extraordinary advances in AI over the past decade. Matt Burgess’s book discusses the history of AI and its current uses and applications as voice recognition software, self-driving cars, and creepy algorithms.

AI is now poised as a weapon in the struggle for technological dominance between major political powers. Nations are heavily investing in AI development, raising questions concerning the existing laws and whether they are sufficient to address the rapidly developing tools, such as facial recognition and autonomous weapon systems.

We agree that the book may have missed innumerable updates since it was published in 2021,but it is a great primer into the tech to foster interest and encourage further reading.

WHERE TO FIND IT- The book is available in AUC Bookstores, and online on Amazon.

? HOT AND FRESH OUT OF THE KITCHEN-

This restaurant serves national dishes for people who live in Egypt, not Masr.TikTokers in Om El Donia have jokingly started making a distinction between the two terms to address the cultural gap between Westernized and original versions of traditional food or experiences. Yaba, which describes itself as a gourmet spot, is definitely from Egypt (specifically Leven Square) — but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t delicious.

You won’t find breakfast food here…unless you don’t mind having hawawshi or tarb first thing in the morning. Incidentally, these are our two favorite sandwiches. Fellow carnivores will relate, but the hawawshi may be too spicy for those with low tolerance. The shish tawook was good but nothing to write home about, but the sujuk was a crowd favorite — you have the option between grilled sujuk with pickled lemon or the mitsabbik cooked in the famous khalta iskandarani.

If you want some greens to offset the richness of the meat and that sweet, sweet fat, you have your traditional salata khadra, a pickled tomato salad, and pickled eggplant salad. The vinegar will help cleanse your palate between sandwiches.

Order juice with your meal — they’re this review’s must-try.The mango mint was our personal favorite, but guava fans were ride or die for the guava mint. The karkadé soda was interesting, but our verdict is if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They come in plastic bags to mimic the authentic Masri juiceries, but don’t let that give you a false sense of security when it comes to the prices.

Brace yourselves for the check. Three sandwiches, two appetizers, and a bottle of water will set you back EGP 300. This is especially exorbitant considering the small portions. The juice alone clocks in at EGP 70, and any extra sauce will come with an EGP 25 price tag.

? Per person: EGP 300-400

? Outdoor seating: Yes

? Alcohol: No

? Accessibility friendly: Yes

Palworld, known as Pokémon with guns, breaks the internet

Everyone around the world is either talking about or playing Palworld. The video game was released to much fanfare — and controversy — last Friday, quickly selling 5 mn copies within three days. Not Nintendo numbers, but almost unbelievable for a previously unknown developer. For comparison, Playstation’s fastest-selling exclusive was The Last of Us Part Two, which sold 4 mn copies in three days.

It’s basically Pokémon with guns.The difference is that Palworld (watch trailer, runtime 3:11) has a survival element. You can battle human enemies or the Pokémon-like creatures called pals. You have to weaken the pals before capturing them, and you can do that by battling it like you would in Pokémon, or you can literally beat it up or damage it with weapons.

Once they’re captured, you can put them to work crafting supplies or building bases. And of course, there are the AK-47s. You can get your pals to make those for you too. Shockingly, you can also capture NPC humans and sell them on the black market.

Another controversial element is that the smash hit has almost obnoxiously ripped offGame Freak’s iconic Pokémon designs, alongside some Nintendo characters and mechanisms as well. Pengullet looks remarkably like Mario 64’s penguin, Lamball looks like Pokémon’s Wooloo, and Anubis looks exactly like Lucario. So don’t expect to see it on the Nintendo eshop anytime soon.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward. The game does a good job of explaining how to play during the tutorial, but some of the mechanics are still finicky. If you’re off by even one pixel when throwing the pokéball — sorry, pal sphere — you’ll miss capturing the pal.

⌛ Hours of gameplay: 30-50 hours

? Platforms: Steam for PC, Xbox

? Price: Palworld is currently down from USD 14.99 to USD 13.49 on Steam, and is going for USD 29.99 on Xbox.

This moving podcast zones in on people sharing their personal stories and experiences

Take a walk in someone else’s shoes with Live Less Ordinary. If you’ve ever watched and made up stories about each stranger, this one’s for you. Each episode goes into detail about people’s personal experiences and lives. Sometimes unassuming, the guests will surprise you with their extraordinary stories and you’ll catch a glimpse into rich inner lives you would’ve never known, even if you’d crossed paths.

Become a sociologist for a bit by listening to this. The podcast plays at being a sociocultural/anthropological study by investigating humans and who they are. Unlike most popular content these days, this BBC World show doesn’t focus on a local perspective but encompasses human stories from the whole world.

Deeply human and thought-provoking. Although the approach may be academic on paper, the podcast is a heartfelt investigation into the human spirit. It’s nice to take a break from the barrage of negative news out there and feel like you’ve connected with someone you would’ve never met otherwise.

It hits the sweet spot: The duration of the episodes is on point — at an average of 30-45 minutes. We find that length to be optimal to keep commitment low but also to be long enough to be engaging.

You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Anghami, or on its host channel, BBC World Service.

THE ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

JANUARY

8 January-28 February (Monday-Wednesday): Cheese fondue brunch at Villa Belle Epoque.

14 January-2 February (Sunday-Friday): Hicham Rahma solo exhibition at Picasso Art Gallery.

24 January-6 February (Wednesday-Tuesday): Cairo International Book Fair.

26 January (Friday): Streats at Walk of Cairo.

FEBRUARY

1-4 February (Thursday-Sunday): Fujifilm Egypt Festival at Consoleya.

3 February (Saturday): Cairo Vintage Souq at Al Ismaelia Downtown.

9 February (Friday): Hamza Namira album release concert at ZED Park.

16 February (Friday): Amr Hassan at El Sawy Culturewheel.

21-22 February (Wednesday-Thursday): Omar KhairatHafliti concert at the Cairo Opera House.

MARCH

1 March (Friday): Cairo Half Marathon by Cairo Runners.

11-12 March (Monday-Tuesday): Creative Industry Summit.

11 March (Tuesday): The Oscars

APRIL

9 April (Tuesday): Eid El Fitr (TBC).

25 April (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Sinai Liberation Day (TBC).

MAY

1 May (Wednesday): National holiday in observance of Labor Day (TBC).

5 May (Sunday): Coptic Easter.

6 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim (TBC).

JUNE

15-19 June (Saturday-Wednesday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

30 June (Sunday): June 30 Revolution Day (TBC).

JULY

7 July (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

23 July (Tuesday): Revolution Day (TBC).

SEPTEMBER

15 September (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

OCTOBER

6 October (Sunday): Armed Forces Day.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2023: The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Q1 2024: Opening of the newly developed Pyramids Plateau in Giza.

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